Comic book characters comic strip characters open source characters by year by creator community. Captain swastika by mlj comic character, public domain, spiderman. The golden age of comic books describes an era of american comic books from 1938 to 1956. While the comics are in the public domain, some of the characters might not be. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The digital comic museum is a website that is collecting public domain comic books from the golden age of comics, which is generally thought to be between the 1930s and 1950s, and is making them. The golden age for comic books is known for plots that dont appear in modern day comics. I have argued, twice before, that were living in the golden age of comics, simply because of the sheer diversity of the product and the accessibility of it all those links are old. Comic book characters comic strip characters open source characters. In june of 1938, national allied publications began a new comic book series, featuring several different heroes. Best of the golden age batman, captain america, alex schomburg get nods as collectors select their favorite covers of the era.
Public domain characters who have appeared in comic books. List of public domain characters this is a list of characters that have fallen out of worldwide, and are usable in other works of fiction without permission from the characters original creator. Public domain characters concept public domain characters appears in 3902 issues. Weve been selling comics since 1961 our first sale. The series was meh to good, but if you want to see more of these characters outside of their source material check out alan moores terra obscura, or even write your own. Featured below are golden age comic books from wellknown pulp magazine publishers of the. Of the golden age american comic book publishers on this list, only ten continued to publish comic books after 1960, and only three of them are still currently in business. Public domain characters concept public domain characters appears in 3901 issues.
The comic strip library is a digital library containing a collection of public domain comic strips. Users post scans of comics that are now in the public domain. Collectible comics superhero, mystery, childrens comic books. Greats of the golden age comics golden years guide to reprints bright page golden age comic book reprints when works pass into the public domain unc. Since then, the site has expanded far beyond the original goal to concentrate on just the public domain characters. Oct 05, 20 in fact, while jeffs enthusiasm and passion for these characters shines through in his tale, he readily admits he hasnt even read many of the original stories from the golden age of comics featuring these great characters. Is there a website where you can download golden age comics. Public domain characters published by fawcett books. Fatman, catman, and more public domain comic heroes youve. This is a prime example of researching each individual title and comic if you really want to be sure of the status. Usually from the golden age and the interregnum, though some are from the silver age. The spider woman, heroic comics golden age, comic books, marvel, public domain. Feb 19, 2015 one thing to look out for with pd characters, is to see in what context are they public domain.
For sale marvel comics thor 163 him warlock jack kirby artwork silver age stan lee emorys memories. Oct 1944 this book has 52 pages and was uploaded by movielover on april the file size is publisher is better nedor standard pines. The golden age of comic book movies can you believe that guy. The debut of the new superhero the flash in 1956 is generally considered the beginning of the silver age of comic books. This period, which witnessed an explosion of englishcanadian comic book publishing, is now described as the canadian golden age of comics. For examples sherlock holmes is public domain, but if you write a novel the estate will try and charge you a rather large fee, but they gave permissio. The modern age of comic books is a period in the history of american superhero comic books which is generally considered to have begun in the mid1980s and continues through the present day. A thread for public domain characters from the golden age era you feel are worth pointing out, either because their potential wasnt fully fulfilled at the time or that theyre just interesting in general. If the stories are long public domain like green llama. A list of the heroic characters listed on public domain super heroes. Two of the most common are androids and heroes that needed to convince someone close, or the public at large, that their heroic persona and their alter ego were in fact different people.
Free, public domain golden age comics online the mary sue. Golden age reprints offers public domain comic books from the golden age of comics. Sep 20, 2015 however, thanks to websites like comic book plus, which host hundreds of comics online, usually much lesser known ones, that have fallen into the public domain. Two hundred golden age comics, including the first appearances of batman and superman, were found after being forgotten for more than 50 years. A new character created by two young men from cleveland was featured on the cover. The most collectible comics from the golden age are always issue number one of a title. The digital comic museum free and public domain comic books kip adams, the second flame, was a chemist and possessed superhuman strength, but he could not control fire.
Golden age heroes directory toonopedia international hero nedoraday. Everything in the collection predates 1923 and is no longer under in the united states. Who are the best comic book characters now in the public. Wonderful site on characters and history of comic books, comic strips and animation. Comic book characters comic strip characters open source characters by year by creator.
Public domain comic books golden age comics collectible. A comic book project of my own featuring public domain. Distributed as an exclusive bonus comic in a foreign comic multipack marvel jubilaum pack 1 with four other marvel deutschland comics. Mar 02, 2016 comic books are commonly categorized into four major ages based on when they were published. See also list of quality, fawcett and charlton characters who havent appeared in dc comics. Public domain comic books golden age comics public domain. If i decide to do a comic book project featuring the public domain golden age superheroes and villains, should i depict the characters as seen in the golden age welcome to the forums for public domain super heroes wiki and the free universe. Temporal comics was created to bring fun back to comics.
And if youre interested in selling your comic books, knowing what age they fall in is vitally important for valuing your comic books. Then jess nevins launched his golden age superheroes site. Public domain super heroes is a collaborative website about public domain characters from comic books, comic strips, films, books, pulps, mythology, television, animation, folk stories, among others. Our goal is to create a series of comic books featuring profiles of heroes that are in the public domain. Recent blog posts forum free universe forums public domain funnies wiki. Comics that are in the public domain actually offer a good introduction for people studying comic books. A group of top comic collectors has chosen detective comics no. Mar 14, 2014 luckily for todays curious cats, many of these misfit comics didnt get ed and are now in the public domain. These websites host comics of varying genres and from various time periods. Comic book plus, brought to our attention by open culture, is an. It should be noted that this pertains only to the characters as they were originally depicted when. Golden age characters who are in the public domain. When he expressed no interest in doing a companion one with the villains, i decided to fill that void.
All quality comics characters have lapsed into public domain. About the comic strip library what is the comic strip library. Any comic book creator looking to use one of these should make use of this resource. They were all untested books, and the publishers were not inclined to do a big print run for fear of having them returned. Today there are a wealth of golden and silver age comic book characters who have fallen into public domain.
Tarpe mills is now in the public domain, and recent attempts to bring her back keep forgetting the key ingredient tarpe mills. Here are a few links to comic stories i found about public domain. I am almost positive this cover was drawn by jack kirby, in the the style of tarpe mills. In recent years the many public domain characters from both pulps and comics have been. Comic strip library digital collection of classic comic strips.
So a comic book might have an initial print run of 250,000. The superhero archetype was created and many wellknown characters were introduced, including superman, batman, captain marvel, captain america, and wonder woman. The wiki format allows any registered user to create any article, so we can all work together to build the site. Our first venture is a multiissue comic book featuring original profiles on public. Concept public domain characters appears in 3902 issues. Media in category golden age of comic books the following 199 files are in this category, out of 199 total. The free universe is a collaborative fictional universe comprised of characters, settings and stories that are public domain or freely licensed by their creators. Mar 18, 2016 the golden age of comic book movies march 18, 2016 andrew leave a comment today marks a very much anticipated date for me, and that is the release of daredevil season 2 on netflix, the street level epic series about the crime fighting man without fear from hells kitchen. These images were used as reference material for alex ross project superpowers, an attempt to revive some of these defunct heroes of the golden age.
The golden age daredevil might be one of the bestknown public domain superheroes. Public domain super heroes is a collaborative website about comic book, film, literary, or pulp characters in the public domain that have appeared in comics or. Because of the rampant use of characters like fighting yank, black terror, doc strange, and captain future, one would believe the characters to be public domain, free and clear. Jun 11, 2014 this is a great opportunity for me to do my take on the comic art from this time period that has fascinated me all my life.